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Need Gaming Suggestions for a 56k'er

citizen059citizen059 hello my name is citizenI'm from the InternetRegistered User regular
edited November 2008 in Games and Technology
I have a friend who's dreadfully bored. She's in a situation where a 56k connection is her only link to the outside world.

I'd like to help her but I just don't know what's out there. I was hoping the hive mind of the G&T collective had some answers.

What can I suggest to her that's:

1. Free
2. 56k Friendly (small download and/or low bandwidth required)
3. Multiplayer (somewhere between required and optional)

She's used to MMO's so I know the online component & social contact is what draws her in, but at the same time she's realistic enough to know that 56k limits what she can do there.

I appreciate any suggestions you might be able to give.

citizen059 on

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    Anon the FelonAnon the Felon In bat country.Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    AC runs fine on a 56k, once you get past the initial patches and stuff :)

    Anon the Felon on
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    PeregrineFalconPeregrineFalcon Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    A lot of free MMO's require a pretty huge download. Maybe burn a few of them to DVD and mail them to her?

    Oh, and play with her if you're into MMOs as well, or just want to be nice.

    PeregrineFalcon on
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    ben0207ben0207 Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Maybe Yar's Revenge, Asteroids, Pac Man.

    Also, when you head back to the past, could you tell my Grandma I miss her?

    ben0207 on
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    NedoNedo Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    ben0207 wrote: »
    Maybe Yar's Revenge, Asteroids, Pac Man.

    Also, when you head back to the past, could you tell my Grandma I miss her?

    quoted for funniness.
    Multiplayer Gaming of 56k is pretty bad, what about roundbased stuff like Civ?
    Oh there is a free (shareware) Game adaption of Mission Risk which you can play either against AI or Humans. Its not that deep but you can get a few hours fun out of it.
    www.missionrisk.com

    Nedo on
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    IgelIgel Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    It depends on how text based tolerant your friend is, but if she likes MMOs and has a reduced connection speed the first thing that comes to my mind is MUDs. In particular the four found here: http://www.ironrealms.com/ mainly because they can be entirely browser based with a rather tiny download for a java script applet (I think that's what it is). They're free (with a optional pay component but I never used it so I don't know too much about it) and the social contact is there. 56k shouldn't be too much of a problem when the information transmitted is so simple.

    MUDs can be odd to get used to, but last I played them I had a good time for a week or two, maybe she will too.

    Igel on
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    The_ScarabThe_Scarab Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Need more information on the PC she is using, the spec.

    Most RTS games use miniscule amounts of bandwidth to play multiplayer.

    If it is just MMOs you want then that's gonna be harder, they become far more unplayable with latency and bandwidth issues than other games, mainly because other people will get pissed off with you more.

    The real thing to do is buy an excellent offline game that feels like a multiplayer. Spore for example has no multiplayer component but allows you to interact and share creatures and items and stuff with other players, plus it can be online all the time and slowly and incrementally download other content even when you dont play.

    The_Scarab on
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    citizen059citizen059 hello my name is citizen I'm from the InternetRegistered User regular
    edited November 2008
    I don't think it's a very high spec PC. She played WoW and GW, neither of which are very hard on the system, but right now MMO's in general are out pretty much because of the lag issue.

    I'm going to have her look at Battle for Wesnoth as one option, but I figured I might get some good suggestions here too. ;-)

    citizen059 on
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    Lightor216Lightor216 Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    I played Warcraft 3 for four years before I got broadband. With the exception of people occasionally kicking me for having to download customs, it worked perfectly.

    Lightor216 on
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    psyck0psyck0 Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Tribes. Free, fun, fast.

    psyck0 on
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    Brainiac 8Brainiac 8 Don't call me Shirley... Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Space Quest: Starring Roger Wilco. :^:

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    CindersCinders Whose sails were black when it was windy Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Brainiac 8 wrote: »
    Space Quest: Starring Roger Wilco. :^:

    Don't get 6. 6 is terrible.

    And if you get the pack with the whole series, never install 6.

    Cinders on
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    syrionsyrion Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Go.

    Lexulous (Scrabble).

    :D

    syrion on
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    Brainiac 8Brainiac 8 Don't call me Shirley... Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Cinders wrote: »
    Brainiac 8 wrote: »
    Space Quest: Starring Roger Wilco. :^:

    Don't get 6. 6 is terrible.

    And if you get the pack with the whole series, never install 6.


    Cinders is right, avoid 6.

    1 & 2 are the best though. :D

    Also the first few King's Quests are also great.

    And Day of the Tentacle. :winky:

    Brainiac 8 on
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    SolidGobiSolidGobi Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Does she have facebook? Because if she does it has a lot of fun multiplayer games that I would think would be 56k friendly. One that comes to mind is Attack! which is an online version of Risk.

    SolidGobi on
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    That_GuyThat_Guy I don't wanna be that guy Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Civ 4 should work fine over dialup as it is turn based, and doesn't need to do anything in real time.

    That_Guy on
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    emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Cinders wrote: »
    Brainiac 8 wrote: »
    Space Quest: Starring Roger Wilco. :^:

    Don't get 6. 6 is terrible.

    And if you get the pack with the whole series, never install 6.

    Six has a giant lion who is admiral of a space fleet and operates his ship with an over-sized SNES controller. Stupidly, if you bought the Space Quest collection, you can't solve the puzzles because there were hints in the manual and pull outs and those things weren't included.

    Why not buy your friend three months worth of broadband service?

    emnmnme on
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    taliosfalcontaliosfalcon Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    fumbbl? toribash maybe? Any online card games like poxnora, or alteil might also be an option (both of which have free unlimited play with premade decks i believe)

    taliosfalcon on
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    CapuanoCapuano Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Starcraft is pretty 56k friendly, isn't it? It's only $20 for the Battle Chest (game and expansion). It still has a huge multiplayer following, too.

    Capuano on
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    DarmakDarmak RAGE vympyvvhyc vyctyvyRegistered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Subspace/Continuum is pretty fun and is a small download and ran pretty well back when I played it on dialup. There isn't a whole lot of the social thing going on (unless it's shit talking to random people) but at least you can work with/against other people.

    Darmak on
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    AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Atlantica? The download is 2.something GB+patches and installed it takes up ~10GB, but besides that: turn-based combat that is actually enjoyable.

    *edit: alternatively: Dofus/Dofus Arena/Wakfu? See the free MMO list for links and more information on those, all I remember is that they're TBS as well.

    Aldo on
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    DarmakDarmak RAGE vympyvvhyc vyctyvyRegistered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Aldo wrote: »
    Atlantica? The download is 2.something GB+patches and installed it takes up ~10GB, but besides that: turn-based combat that is actually enjoyable.

    *edit: alternatively: Dofus/Dofus Arena/Wakfu? See the free MMO list for links and more information on those, all I remember is that they're TBS as well.

    Yes, I'm sure she'll want to download 2+ gigs on a 56k connection. It's not like it'll take forever or anything. :P

    Darmak on
    JtgVX0H.png
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    VistiVisti Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Cinders wrote: »
    Brainiac 8 wrote: »
    Space Quest: Starring Roger Wilco. :^:

    Don't get 6. 6 is terrible.

    And if you get the pack with the whole series, never install 6.

    What you do is this: Go here. Skip the first one and get everything else.

    Visti on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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    AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Darmak wrote: »
    Aldo wrote: »
    Atlantica? The download is 2.something GB+patches and installed it takes up ~10GB, but besides that: turn-based combat that is actually enjoyable.

    *edit: alternatively: Dofus/Dofus Arena/Wakfu? See the free MMO list for links and more information on those, all I remember is that they're TBS as well.

    Yes, I'm sure she'll want to download 2+ gigs on a 56k connection. It's not like it'll take forever or anything. :P
    I believe it has already been suggested that the OP can burn things on a DVD and give that to her.

    Aldo on
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    DarmakDarmak RAGE vympyvvhyc vyctyvyRegistered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Aldo wrote: »
    Darmak wrote: »
    Aldo wrote: »
    Atlantica? The download is 2.something GB+patches and installed it takes up ~10GB, but besides that: turn-based combat that is actually enjoyable.

    *edit: alternatively: Dofus/Dofus Arena/Wakfu? See the free MMO list for links and more information on those, all I remember is that they're TBS as well.

    Yes, I'm sure she'll want to download 2+ gigs on a 56k connection. It's not like it'll take forever or anything. :P
    I believe it has already been suggested that the OP can burn things on a DVD and give that to her.

    You can't seriously expect me to read the entire OP do you? :D

    Darmak on
    JtgVX0H.png
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    AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Darmak wrote: »
    Aldo wrote: »
    Darmak wrote: »
    Aldo wrote: »
    Atlantica? The download is 2.something GB+patches and installed it takes up ~10GB, but besides that: turn-based combat that is actually enjoyable.

    *edit: alternatively: Dofus/Dofus Arena/Wakfu? See the free MMO list for links and more information on those, all I remember is that they're TBS as well.

    Yes, I'm sure she'll want to download 2+ gigs on a 56k connection. It's not like it'll take forever or anything. :P
    I believe it has already been suggested that the OP can burn things on a DVD and give that to her.

    You can't seriously expect me to read the entire OP do you? :D
    I actually expect you to read the whole thread.

    Aldo on
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    AggroChanAggroChan __BANNED USERS regular
    edited November 2008
    Get her some Cave Story on a usb or something. :>

    AggroChan on
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    FremFrem Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Hey, dialup isn't *that* slow. Cave Story is definitely downloadable in a reasonable amount of time using it.

    I'm gonna second WarCraft III. Or StarCraft, that's got even smaller custom maps. Oh, or Diablo II? That doesn't require much bandwidth, does it?

    Yeah, pretty much anything Blizzard which doesn't involve more than eight other players.

    Frem on
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